President Luis Lacalle Pou met this Monday with the Minister of Health, Daniel Salinas, to assess the increase in covid-19 cases.
Subsequently, a press conference began at Executive Tower.
“The great defense that the country has had was the significant number of vaccinated,” he said at the beginning. Uruguay spends nearly US $ 1 million a day on test pcr, he added.
In turn, Minister Salinas indicated that the three doses of vaccine against covid-19 are a clear reinforcement to avoid complications of the disease. “In closed places the use of face masks is important, avoid crowds and with special emphasis on vulnerable people, with comorbidities. In that group, you have to lower social interaction, “he said.
He reported that this Tuesday there will be 140 thousand places and hours assigned for third doses.
Lacalle then referred to the beginning of classes. “Let’s hope that before the start of classes, the largest number of children will be scheduled,” he said.
“We are facing a more contagious variant (omicron) that makes controls difficult,” he said.
Lacalle Pou clarified that a possible border closure is not evaluated due to the strong increase in daily cases. He clarified that they are working to create health corridors so that, in this way, those who want to return to their country but have to quarantine, have the possibility of doing so.
The president ruled out the possibility of taking new measures despite the increase in daily cases. “Measures have been suggested, but we do not know which ones. We can imagine why some who are the creators of the mandatory quarantine may go that way. Sometimes not taking action directly is a measure. With non-pharmacological preventions, in addition to vaccines, if the recommendations of the Ministry of Public Health are met, we have some peace of mind, “he said. He clarified that the current situation is far from a saturation level.
Salinas later said that omicron is the predominant variant. “Surely it is much more advanced, it has eaten the field and it is the variant that predominates,” he said.
The president said that in case of taking the path of applying a fourth booster dose, the necessary number of vaccines is available. “Hopefully, according to some papers we have been reading, it is not necessary (the fourth dose)”, He said.
He also clarified that the number of daily infections will continue to be reported. “We were about to suspend the counting of cases. We decided to make sure that no one thinks that we are hiding the figures,” he said.
